Mike McCarthy to Call Plays for Cowboys After Kellen Moore Firing

Moore and McCarthy apparently didn’t see eye to eye when it came to football philosophy.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones confirmed on Wednesday that coach Mike McCarthy will handle offensive play-calling duties in 2023.

The news comes after the team parted ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. 

“This is the logical step to build on it and use what we’ve established,” Jones said at Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala., per Yahoo Sports. “This is a time for us to build on. That’s what this is: a building step.”

Dallas hired McCarthy in 2020, and he constructed his own coaching staff, except for Moore, who was retained from previous coach Jason Garrett’s staff. Shortly after the Cowboys relieved Moore of his duties, the Chargers announced they had hired him to be their new OC. 

Dallas finished the regular season ranked fourth in the league in scoring (27.5 points per game) and 11th in total yards per game (354.9). The season saw some regression from quarterback Dak Prescott, though, who tied for the league lead with 15 interceptions and posted his worst passer rating (91.1) since 2017. 

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Moore’s vision “doesn’t totally jive” with what McCarthy sought from the offense, per Yahoo Sports. 

“I think he wanted Kellen to roll, but he didn’t totally agree 100% with all of the philosophies and the small things that goes into it,” Stephen Jones said. “And it ultimately came down to, hey, if we’re going to take the next step, he wants to see if he can make the changes that he thinks can make the difference that he didn’t necessarily think that Kellen might have believed in.”